Doctor Who: Aliens of London

Written by: Russell T. Davies
Directed by: Keith Boak
Starring: Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper
Duration: 45'01m
Broadcast Date: 16/4/2005
Ratings/Chart Pos: 7.63m/No.18
DVD Availability: Try sendit.com (region 2 only)
Images: See the Doctor Who: Aliens of London Image Page

Cast (credits order): Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Alan David (Gabriel Sneed), Huy Rhys (Redpath), Jennifer Hill (Mrs Peace), Eve Myles (Gwyneth), Simon Callow (Charles Dickens), Wayne Cater (Stage Manager), Meic Povey (Driver) and Zoe Thorne (The Gelth).

Crew & Credits: Lloyd Elis (1st Assistant Director), Steffan Morris (2nd Assistant Director), Dan Mumford (3rd Assistant Director), Clive Evans (Location Manager), Emma Reid (Unit Manager), Pamela Joyce (Production Co-ordinator), Debi Griffiths/Kath Blackman (A/Production Accountants), Non Eleri Hughes (Continuity), Helen Raynor (Script Editor), Mike Costelloe/Martin Stephens (Camera Operators), Steve Lawes/Mark Isaac (Focus Pullers), Anna James/David Jones (Camera Assistants), John Robinson (Grip), Damian Richardson (Boom Operator), Mark Hutchings (Gaffer), Peter Chester (Best Boy), Lee Sheward (Stunt Co-ordinator), Lucy Allan (Stunt performer), Gwenllian Llwyd (Art Dept Co-ordinator), Bryan Hitch (Concept Artist), Catherine Samuel (Production Buyer), Peter Walpole (Set Decorator), Stephen Nicholas (Supervising Art Director), Arwel Wyn Jones (Standby Art Director), Patrick Begley (Property Master), Andrew Smith (Construction Manager), Phill Shellard/Adrian Anscombe (Standby Props), Jenny Bowers (Graphic Artist), Yolanda Peart-Smith (Wardrobe Supervisor), Linda Davie (Make-Up Supervisor), Sarah Wilson/Claire Pritchard (Make-Up Artists*), Kirsty Robertson (Casting Associate), Ceries Doyle (Assistant Editor), Marie Brown (Post Production Supervisor), Matthew Clarke (On Line Editor), Kai van Beers (Colourist), Sara Bennett/Jennifer Herbett/Simon C. Holden/Alberto Montanes/Astrid Busser-Casas/David Bowman (2D VFX Artists), Chris Tucker/Chris Petts (3D VFX Artists), Tim Ricketts (Dubbing Mixer), Paul McFadden (Dialogue Editor), Paul Jeffries (Sound FX Editor), Richard Pugsley (Finance Manager), Ron Grainer (Original Theme Music), Andy Pryor CDG (Casting Director), Endaf Emyr Williams (Production Accountant), Ian Richardson (Sound Recordist), Lucinda Wright (Costume Designer), Davy Jones (Make Up Designer), Murray Gold (Music), The Mill (Visual Effects), Will Cohen (Visual FX Producer), Dave Houghton (Visual FX Supervisor), Any Effects (Special Effects), John Richards (Editor), Edward Thomas (Production Designer), Ernie Vincze BSC (Director of Photography), Tracie Simpson (Production Manager), Helen Vallis (Associate Producer), Russell T Davies/Julie Gardner/Mal Young (Executive Producers), Phil Collinson (Producer) and Euros Lyn (Director). BBC Wales. c. BBC MMV.
* - For those who care about such trivia, then the credit for Sarah Wilson and Claire Pritchard was given in the singular, suggesting they’re the same person. Apologies for such anal attention to detail…

Story: The Doctor and Rose arrive back home, where the Doctor has miscalculated and taken her back a year since she left. However, worries over where Rose has been are quickly forgotten as London finds itself in the grip of an alien invasion...

Trivia: The episode opens with a 37 second montage of clips from Rose, and closes (bizarrely, for a two-parter that has a cliffhanger) with 36 seconds of clips from the following week’s resolution, World War III.

A continuity error is prevelant in the episode - Rose's mum knows the name "Tardis" when reporting the Doctor to the authorities... despite never having heard it.

Writer Russell T. Davies revealed that he was inspired to write this episode after seeing the music video to Girls Aloud’s “Jump”. A half-minute clip of the video can be seen at GirlsAloud.com, or "VIP Members" can see the full version.

To acknowledge the nature of this episode, I uploaded one of “Mr. Slitheen’s” breaks of wind to obnoxious website RateMyFart.Com. At date of writing it’s picked up an impressive 8/10. In similar terms of trivia, then there are thirteen farts in this episode.

The Doctor states his age as “900 years” in this episode.

Viewpoint:
"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I’m saving the world?"



Arguably the most intelligent and well-constructed of Russell T Davies’s eight scripts for the season, Aliens of London is tightly plotted and doesn’t waste a moment.

In terms of the format, then it reassures viewers uncertain of the “new” series by returning them to a familiar contemporary setting. Asking some interesting questions about the series – such as what happens to the family of those that join the Doctor, and what if an alien invasion was witnessed by the public? – it’s an engaging, often witty episode. A particular touch of genius involves the alien Slitheen dressing a biologically enhanced pig up in a spacesuit and crashing it into the Thames, in order to convince the government it’s an alien as subterfuge. With Eccleston’s acting such an outrageous scene manages to make the leap from high comedy to pathos in seconds. Also in the arena of literate post-modernism are the Slitheen themselves – aliens who dress up in human costumes with a badly-concealed zip.

Sadly, it’s perhaps not all as good, and the sop to the child audience – basically, a lot of fart gags and Mickey doing a pratt fall – is dependent on personal taste. In some ways the previously parochial Doctor Who having its lead character talk about “farting” feels like the end of an age. But nevertheless this was an effective way to reintroduce green aliens to a teatime audience (even if the CGI depicting their emergence is below par) and the series continued to gain young fans.